Bachelor Mother (1939)
Directed by Garson Kanin

Film Review

With The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) marking the end of her long and fruitful partnership with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers' solo career got off to a flying start with this good-natured romantic comedy in which the actress is paired with another much-loved screen icon, David Niven.  Up until this point, Niven's career had been slow to take off, with the actor relegated to supporting roles in such films as The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) and Wuthering Heights (1939).  Bachelor Mother was Niven's first lead in a romantic comedy, in the kind of the role in which he appeared most natural, the perfect beau to play opposite the effortlessly adorable Rogers.

The film was based on a story by Felix Jackson which had previously been adapted for cinema as the German film Kleine Mutti (1935) and would later be remade as Bundle of Joy (1956), with Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher in the lead roles.  The somewhat pedestrian plot was given a new lease of life by screenwriter Norman Krasna and director Garson Kanin, although most of the film's irresistible charm derives from the extraordinary on-screen chemistry between Rogers and Niven (something that the two actors failed spectacularly to rekindle in their next film together, Magnificent Doll, 1946).

Charles Coburn livens up the film no end in its final act, and very nearly steals the film as only he can (despite some stiff competition from the two charismatic leads and a focus-grabbing toddler).  Bachelor Mother is hardly the most original of romantic comedies, nor is it the funniest, but it gushes with charm and is one of Ginger Rogers' most enjoyable films sans Fred. Garson Kanin directed some other notable films, including the classic screwball comedy My Favorite Wife (1940). He also scripted several films featuring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, notably Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952).

Film Synopsis

Polly Parrish works as a shop assistant in a New York department store.  On the day she learns she is to be dismissed she manages to get herself mistaken for the mother of a baby that has been abandoned on the steps of an orphanage.  When Polly refuses to take the baby home with her, the orphanage director persuades her employer's playboy son, David Merlin, to give her back her job so she can rear the child.  Reluctantly, Polly decides to adopt the child, but when she and David become romantically involved the latter's father becomes convinced that the baby is his grandson...